P.J. Kaiser's Blog, page 4

Inspiration Minute – Antarctica – Jan 16, 2012

In my Monday feature, "Inspiration Minute," I'd like to share with you something that has caught my attention or inspired me recently.  Be forewarned, it may take a bit more than a minute!  

After listening to a segment about Antarctica on NPR's "Science Friday" program, I found these stunning photos of Greenland.  If you're writing a story in a chilly climate, the Antarctica program and the Greenland photos should provide plenty of inspiration.

 

I hope you've enjoyed this week's installment of Inspiration Minute!  Feel free to share it with your friends

Three for Thursday: Going Paperless

Welcome to my blog feature – "Three for Thursday."  You may not see an installment every Thursday, but when I can manage it, I'll be sharing three cool – er – somethings.

I've been drowning under a sea of paper.  The bills come in faster than I can file them and my filing cabinet is filled to the brim.

I've already acquired the key things required to go paperless:  1) A high capacity shredder, 2) A totally awesome scanner ("Scan Snap S1500M") and 3) Enough external hard drives to back up the Library of Congress.

So, this is the year that I get serious about moving towards a paperless existence.  I'm not there yet and probably never will be, but I certainly need to move much closer to paperless than I am now.  I came across three helpful resources that I'm referencing in the process of going paperless.  Here they are:

1) "Conquer the paper piles" from Consumer Reports.  This article has some excellent tips about what to keep and how long to keep it.

2) "7 Steps to Building a Paperless Financial Organization System" from The Mortgage Messenger.   A good look at some of the key steps involved.

3) "How Paperless Offices Work" from How Stuff Works.  This is a high-level but comprehensive look at going paperless, both for homes and businesses.

And as a bonus:  "Frictionless Work:  How to Clear Your Life of Non-Essential Tasks" from Leo Babuata of Zenhabits.  This article will give you perspective and incentive on the benefits of going paperless.

So, my scanner is ready to get fired up.  I'm taking a bit of time now before launching into it to figure out how to organize the information so that i don't end up with a zillion scanned images with no way to find the information that I need.  If anybody has any tips on document management schemes or software (for the Mac), please share!

Have you attempted going paperless and succeeded?  Failed?  Please share in the comments.  Happy shredding!

 

Inspired Links – Jan 10, 2012

 

In my Tuesday "Inspired Links" feature, I provide links and brief descriptions of thought-provoking articles.  I hope you enjoy these little treasures

When two of my favorite writing / publishing peeps get together for a video chat, it's noteworthy, for sure.  Check out this video chat with Dan Blank and Joel Friedlander.
And here are some inspiring musings from James Scott Bell: "Be Thankful You're a Writer."
One of my favorite phrases of all time is "Keep Calm and Carry On," so you can imagine that I love this image from A.M. Gamble.
You've probably heard of Penguin's self-publishing community Book Country, so you'll want to read about the story of Kerry Schafer in the New York Times.
I have not read Anne Lamott's book, but after reading this post - "Time, Lost and Found," her book "Bird by Bird" has bubbled up on my TBR list.
"Advice for Authors" from the Domino Project is chock full of good advice for surviving in the new world of publishing.
And I'll close with this post from Brainpickings:  "New Year's Resolution Reading List:  9 Books on Reading and Writing."

 

Inspiration Minute – NY Times 2011 Review – Jan 9, 2012

In my Monday feature, "Inspiration Minute," I'd like to share with you something that has caught my attention or inspired me recently.  Be forewarned, it may take a bit more than a minute!  

I love the "Year in Pictures" featured by the New York Times each year, and this year's is no exception.  With stories ranging from the Arab Spring to the Occupy movement to a myriad of other stunning world and national events, there's plenty of inspiration to go around.  Enjoy!

I hope you've enjoyed this week's installment of Inspiration Minute!  Feel free to share it with your friends

Personal Guru: Position Filled

A couple of weeks ago, I took out a personal ad.  "Wanted:  Personal Guru."  I was very surprised to find that people are reluctant to share their guru recommendations via blog comments.  I take this to mean that people take their personal gurus very seriously and some like to keep them a closely guarded secret.

I did, however, get lots of suggestions via private (or semi-private) messages on social media.  So, I thought I'd share with you the list of finalists for the position of my personal guru for 2012.  This list also includes a number of potential gurus that I have found on my own – primarily via social media.  As you will see from the list, the gurus have various areas of expertise. Narrowing down this list took some careful deliberation.

Steven Pressfield – "The War of Art"
Brian Tracy – "Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done In Less Time" and "No Excuses:  The Power of Self Discipline"
Richard Swenson – "Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives"
Josh Linkner – "Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity"
Rosamund Stone Zander & Benjamin Zander – "The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life"
Jill Jepson – "Writing as A Spiritual Path: A Practical Guide to Writing with Passion and Purpose"
Sage Cohen – "The Productive Writer: Strategies and Systems for Greater Productivity, Profit and Pleasure"
Christina Katz – "The Writer's Workout: 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques From Your Writing Career Coach"
Julia Cameron – "The Artist's Way"
Gretchen Rubin – "The Happiness Project"
Dara Torres – "Gold Medal Fitness:  A Revolutionary 5-Week Program"
Victoria Mixon – "The Art & Craft of Story:  2nd Practitioner's Manual"
Jonathan Fields – "Uncertainty:  Turning Doubt and Fear into Fuel for Brilliance" and "Career Renegade:  How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love"
Charlie Gilkey – "Productive Flourishing" (website)
Joe Dowdell – "Ultimate You: A 4-Phase Total Body Makeover for Women Who Want Maximum Results."

My final choices are dependent much more on what my personal goals are for the year rather than the relative merit of any of these potential gurus.  So, to that end, my primary gurus to launch me into 2012 are :


Gretchen Rubin – Happiness Guru
Dara Torres – Exercise Guru
Victoria Mixon – Writing Guru
Brian Tracy – Productivity Guru


I will also be carrying over a couple of gurus from last year that I didn't mention in my previous post:  Marla Cilley (the "Fly Lady") and Leanne Ely ("Saving Dinner"). I might pick up some extra gurus as the year progresses, but these will get me started off right, I'm sure.

 

 I hope this post gives you some ideas of *your* potential gurus.  Please share your ideas in the comments on this post, if you're comfortable doing so.  Otherwise, I'd love it if you let me know your thoughts via social media.

 

So, please excuse me while I place my book order… my 2012 gurus need to be reporting for duty shortly.

Inspired Links – Jan 3, 2012

 

In my Tuesday "Inspired Links" feature, I provide links and brief descriptions of thought-provoking articles.  I hope you enjoy these little treasures

I was considering compiling a "Best of 2011″ Inspired Links feature, but quickly decided I didn't have time to review all of my Inspired Links posts for 2011 and pick the very best. So, instead I present you with a bit of a catch-up post – the best links of December, 2011:

For some key insights about where publishing is heading, check out Joanna Penn's takeaways from the FutureBook Conference.
Feeling a bit discouraged in your writing life?  This post by Sean Ferrell is simply a must read:  "Pathetic email."
What "best of" list would be complete without a contribution from Kristen Lamb?  My recent fave is "How to Hook a Reader and NEVER Let Go."
And likewise for Dan Blank.  This post "Is Your Writing a Hobby or a Career" contains plenty of food for thought.  While you're there, check out his ever-expanding list of video interviews in the right-hand sidebar.
If you're looking for some actionable advice from a book publicist, check out "Subject: Hello from your Publicist" by Gabrielle Gantz.
I really enjoyed this interview of Therese Walsh by Amy Sue Nathan.  You might, too.
"Turn the Beat Around" by Maria Murnane over at SheWrites provides a crisp explanation of an important literary concept: "beats."
We get to pick into the writerly habits of several famous writers in "Writing Rituals:  Spiritual or Simply Habits" by Jennifer Haupt over at Psychology Today.
And luckily, Brian Klems over at Writer's Digest did have time to review lots of articles and he selected this list of "The 18 Most Popular Articles on Writing of 2011."

 

Inspiration Minute – Hoboken 2011 Highlights – Jan 2, 2012

In my Monday feature, "Inspiration Minute," I'd like to share with you something that has caught my attention or inspired me recently.  Be forewarned, it may take a bit more than a minute!  

One thing about living in Hoboken, New Jersey:  there's never a shortage of interesting news stories.  Our local "Patch" site published this collection of some of the year's best in "Hoboken in 2011: A Year in Pictures."  Whether you're looking for inspiration via natural disasters, criminal activity or the trials and tribulations of our urban landscape, we've got you covered.

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2012!

I hope you've enjoyed this week's installment of Inspiration Minute!  Feel free to share it with your friends

Metro Fiction's first Feature Story

If you follow this blog, you'll know about my new gig as editor at Metro Fiction, the fiction column at Metro Moms Network.  We launched in December with two Staff Selections – one from yours truly "A Feminist Manifesto for the 21st Century" and another from our Editorial Advisor Debra Marrs:  "Company's Coming."

Today we are pleased to launch our first Feature Story:  "Breathe" by the wonderful Linda Simoni-Wastila.

So, please stop by and do some reading.  If you like what you see, you can support our launch by doing the following:

- Leave a comment on any story you like.  Writers love to know that people are reading.

- Check out the Metro Fiction welcome page where you can learn more about us and subscribe to updates from Metro Fiction in your reader.

- Follow @MetroMomsNet on Twitter, @MetroFiction on Twitter

- Like Metro Fiction and Metro Moms Network on Facebook.

- Tell a friend about us.  Share a story that you enjoyed with your friends on social media or your grocer.  Our goal is to publish fine fiction that touches readers – the more readers the better!

Oh, and keep an eye out for information on submissions to Metro Fiction.

Thanks to everybody for your support and Happy New Year's!

Wanted: Personal Guru

The Christmas holiday break is always a time for me to take a step back and reorganize my thoughts, my priorities and my productivity tools.

This past year, I read David Allen's "Getting Things Done" and William Powers' "Hamlet's Blackberry" (my review of the latter is here) and they became my personal gurus for 2011.  David Allen helped me get my "to do" list wrangled into submission, or at least into an organized state.  It actually stayed relatively organized for much of the year in spite of occasional periods of disobedience.  William Powers helped me find a better balance in my plugged-in life and helped me prioritize unplugged time in each day and week.  Most weekends I am mostly, if not completely, unplugged.

I could wax poetic about the virtues of my 2011 gurus for ages, and bore you to tears, but now I'm in the market for a new guru.  I've learned from Allen and Powers and now I'm ready to learn from another guru.  But I'm not quite sure yet who that guru will be.  Will it be another personal productivity / organization guru with a different twist on things?  Will it be a spiritual leader?  Intellectual leader?  Writing expert?  I'm casting about and not quite sure whose train I want to catch as we launch into 2012.

So, I'm open to suggestions.  Who has inspired you in the past year?  Have you done some soul-searching and reorganization thanks to a guru?  Please submit their resume along with three references and I'll consider them for the job.  Oh, and what's the salary?  About the cost of a book

Photo credit

Inspiration Minute – The Isolator – Dec 5, 2011

In my Monday feature, "Inspiration Minute," I'd like to share with you something that has caught my attention or inspired me recently.  Be forewarned, it may take a bit more than a minute!  

If you ever feel distracted, then you'll get a chuckle out of this image:  "The Isolator."  After seeing it for the first time a few weeks ago, this image has stuck in my mind and it's inspired both dread and longing in me.  If you noodle the idea around for awhile, perhaps you'll get some inspiration from it as well.

I hope you've enjoyed this week's installment of Inspiration Minute!  Feel free to share it with your friends